Emmy Bassarab - Frankenstein's monster in relation to language development

Recently, I started reading Mary Shelly's Frankenstein for my English class. I just finished up reading volume II and I noticed a few details that could apply to this class. First off, I would like to explain little bit about the story. After Victor Frankenstein creates his creature, he's horrified at his creation and flees. The creature disappears for around two years and Victor has no clue what happened to it. In volume II we learn the story of what happened to the creature in those two years, from his point of view. When the creature is brought to life, he has no concept of words or language. He's confused and scared, but is also fascinated by humans, utterly fascinated. He tries to make contact with the humans, and they run away in fear because of his horrid appearance. His journey ends up taking him to a small hovel attached to a little cottage in the German country. The monster stays in the hovel and observes the peaceful family through a little peephole. With no way to communicate or understand communication he feels utterly alone. Over time the monster learns what certain words mean. The first words he learns are the names of food, then he learns the names of the family, but he isn't able to comprehend complex thoughts just yet. Through the lessons taught to a friend of the family, the creature learns to speak and understand language. Once he learned language, he is able to have complex thoughts and identify them. In one part of the story the creature says, “These thoughts exhilarated me, and led me to apply with fresh ardour to acquiring the art of language” (shelly 84). The creature was only able to have complex thoughts after he learned language. Before this he was confused and didn’t know what things meant, but through the use of language he was able to identify certain things. This goes back to the idea that in order to have thought you must first have language.

Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. Norton Critical, 2022.


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